Whatcom County sees 43 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by state Thursday
Whatcom County saw 43 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Thursday, Feb. 25, but no related deaths were reported..
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,542 confirmed cases and 82 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
An additional 133 probable cases — an increase of three from Wednesday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The 43 new cases reported Thursday mean Whatcom County has had 3,073 cases — or 47.0% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 56 days of 2021 (an average of 54.9 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past week decreased to 36.3 per day.
The state Department of Health data Wednesday showed Whatcom County has had 306 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is a decrease of one from Wednesday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 174,594 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 302 tests from Wednesday’s report — meaning 3.75% of all reported tests in the county during the pandemic have come back positive. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 remain incomplete.
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, Whatcom County had administered 29,779 vaccinations — an increase of 219 vaccinations from Monday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. An average of 501 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 16-22, down from the 569 seven-day average on Monday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 11.61% of the county (or 26,167 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 5.53% of the county (or 12,454 residents) is fully vaccinated. The number of vaccines given and people vaccinated may not match, according to the dashboard, because people may be vaccinated in counties other than where they live.
According to an analysis of Wednesday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.74% of the 1,411,453 total vaccine doses given in the state — down from 2.76% in Monday’s report. But the county has administered only 2.11% of the state’s total — down from 2.14% in Monday’s report — and has administered the 12th-most doses in the state. For comparison, Whatcom County represents 3.0% of the state’s total population and is the state’s ninth-largest county, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Friday it was treating seven patients for COVID-19, up two from Thursday’s report. On Friday the hospital began allowing non-COVID patients to have one designated visitor during their stay (two for minor and end-of-life patients).
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Thursday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 23,086 tests and 74 students have tested positive — unchanged from Tuesday’s report. The college has seen 36 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Thursday that it had three new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 455. The Lummi health department reported it has 47 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,602 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 18.34%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until March 9.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Thursday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24. With a shift to “Healthy Washington” goals to resume business activities, the state is more specific on reporting dates for some metrics. The dashboard does not update on the weekends.
Whatcom County was missing the marks on two key metrics:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents Feb. 2-15 with a rate of 267.2 — a decrease from 268.1 reported Wednesday. Whatcom County has the eighth-highest infection rate in the state according to Thursday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Feb. 1-7 of 350.7. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 268.6, but Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 354.2 reported Wednesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 1-7 with a rate of 6.1% — unchanged from Wednesday’s report and the 20th-highest rate in the state.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Thursday evening for data through Wednesday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,011 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (81.9%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of nine occupied beds from data Wednesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 45 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (3.6%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of four occupied beds from data Wednesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 86 of the region’s 135 adult ICU beds (63.7%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s a decrease of nine beds being used from data Wednesday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 16 of the region’s 135 adult ICU beds (11.9%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was unchanged from data Wednesday.
Whatcom Museum update
With Whatcom County moving to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Heathy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery” the Whatcom Museum is able to reopen at 25% capacity.
The museum will open beginning Thursday, March 4, according to an email to The Bellingham Herald from spokesperson Christina Claassen. Hours for both the Lightcatcher and Old City Hall will be from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
The Family Interactive Gallery will remain closed, but Claassen said the museum hopes to open that in approximately another month. The Museum Store is open Wednesday through Sunday, and the Photo Archives are open by appointment only.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 28.4 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 508,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 113.1 million reported cases and 2.5 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 319,498 confirmed cases, an increase of 988 from reported cases on Wednesday.
▪ 18,155 probable cases, a decrease of 355 from Wednesday data.
▪ 19,234 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 13 from data Wednesday.
▪ 5,193,250 total molecular tests, an increase of 25,737 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 4,942 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 30 from Wednesday’s data. That means 1.5% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died.
According to the state’s latest vaccination report, which is updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
▪ 1,411,453 vaccinations had been given according to Wednesday’s report, an increase of 32,135.
▪ The state has averaged administering 25,346 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than half of the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, but a decrease from the average 26,380 reported Monday.
▪ The state’s report Wednesday estimated that 12.90% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 5.72% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 1,642,695 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 295,325 from Monday’s report) and 179,010 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 16,185 from Monday’s report).
▪ Of the 1,821,705 doses delivered, 77.48% have been given., according to Wednesday’s report.
Washington state actions
In the “Healthy Washington” plan introduced by Gov. Jay Inslee Jan. 5, business resumption is tied to targets by health system regions. Whatcom is tied to Skagit, San Juan and Island counties in the plan.
The state will run analyses every other Friday to determine whether regions will move backward or forward in phases the following Monday, officials said.
All regions began in Phase 1 on Jan. 11, and the North region, which includes Whatcom, Island, San Juan and Skagit counties moved to Phase 2 Sunday, Feb. 14, along with the East, North Central, Northwest and Southwest regions. On Thursday, Inslee said the state would stay in Phase 2, with no areas slipping back to Phase 1. But new metrics for Phase 3 and what activities will be allowed in that phase have not yet been released by Inslee.
Phase 2 allows for live entertainment with ticketed groups of up to 10 people and very limited fitness activities such as appointment-based training in gyms.
Phase 2 also allows restaurants and indoor fitness centers to open indoors at 25% capacity and allows for sports competitions to resume with limited spectators, and wedding, and funeral ceremonies can increase capacities.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 8:36 AM.
